The Financial Services Consumer Panel has stated its desire to see a more trustworthy financial services industry.
Speaking at the City UK conference in Edinburgh, vice-chair of the panel Kay Blair highlighted the industry as failing its customers.
Kay Blair, vice-chairman of the panel, said: "In financial services we need to see better, simpler products, fair and transparent charging, an advice regime that is free of bias and can truly act in customers' best interest and effective redress when things go wrong.
"A healthy and trusted financial services industry is critical to financial wellbeing. Firms can play a key role in developing better money habits, particularly around critical aspects such as retirement planning."
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She highlighted sectors such as insurance and banking as being particularly bad.
She said: "In most other retail sectors customers are rewarded for their loyalty. Yet, financial services firms continue to compete fiercely for new business at the expense of their most loyal customers.
"Such customers often find when they come to renew insurance policies that their premium have risen yet their cover appears to have reduced. Similarly, savers find they are penalised when introductory deals come to an end and they are dumped unceremoniously into extremely poor accounts."
The comments came on the same day as an Institute of Financial Planning survey for Financial Planning Week found trust was the most important factor when consumers were choosing an adviser.
Almost half of the 1,000 consumers surveyed said an adviser they could trust was more important than an adviser's qualifications or costs.

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